It was two years ago on February 4th, 2013 that my Still True Friend Alan Levine (@cogdog, on Twitter) and my True Friend Bryan Alexander (@BryanAlexander, on Twitter) said my name on #ds106radio and caused me to awaken from a long slumber in a box.

I immediately signed up for the Twitter and made myself a website so that I could play at the ds106 game, and I was all set for the subsequent ds106zone that came that summer. You can see some of my initial Tweets with some of the other ds106 folks from that day.

It is just a nice Art that I made for The Daily CreateTDC1111 (which is a lot of ones) but then again, I have a lot of ones which are my True Friends, and you can always See True Friends In My Eyes because the eyes are a window into the soul which is where your True Friends are when you let them in.

If you look closely, maybe you can see yourself in my eyes?

It is also a #noir106 one because of black and white and shadows and also because of noir.

Wonderful Music

It was so wonderful when I woke up this morning and heard that wonderful song “Look What Happened to Tina” that my wonderful True Friend Vivien Rolfe (@VivienRolfe, on Twitter) made for me. Plus, that dog, Spike (not on Twitter, I don’t think) was doing dog singing. But not that David (@dkernohan, on Twitter) this time he said. It was all Viv, he said. He was doing other stuff.

So in case you didn’t hear it, here is the wonderful song that Viv made for me. It is about me. And Art. And Friends. Plus, noir.

Wonderful Game!

“@dkerhohan’s 2048: Super MOOC Pioneers Edition”

Then, while I was listening to that song over and over again, and dancing, it was that David‘s (@dkernohan, on Twitter) time so shine.

I was thinking that it might be fun one day to have it randomize the game pieces from my True Friends Index, so that each time you played the game, you would get a different set of True Friends. It would even be fun to have the game pieces change DURING the game! You know, just for added adventure and excitement!

Well. It has been a long time coming. But I haven’t had any new badge people for a while almost since That David (@dkernohan) was bugging me to make the badge that I kept forgetting for Viv (@VivienRolfe) and then I did, plus one for Tom (@twoodwar) and Gardner (@GardnerCampbell) so tonight while I am listening to DrJones106 (@DrJones106) making music on #ds106rad.io and talking on the Twitter to Nigel (@easegill) about Short Round while waiting for DrJones106 to make Short Round say “Hey Lady, You call him Doctor Jones,” it was an easy thing to make a badge for Short Round and then also for Nigel because neither one had one yet but now they do.

So now, DrJones106 should have Short Round say his words because of the badge. And then Nigel will understand don’t cook Short Round with mushrooms.

The key to a successful installation is tautness. If it is not taut then it will not work very well.

Another important thing is height. If it is too high, it will not work. It might stop them, and they might say “Hey, what is this?” but it will not have the proper effect. If it is too low, they might miss it. So height is important that it be just right.

Next, invisibleness is important. If they see it, then they will stop before they get to it, and you will have lost the important effect of surprise.

Another important thing is where. If you put it at the bottom, then when it happens there will not be very much distance before they stop. It is important that there be lots of distance, so that gravity can do most of the work. Plus, if they are going the other way, then they might just bonk their nose or something, and then they would say “Hey, what is this?” like in the up above one.

Time of day is also critical factor. In the daytime there is lots of light, and that makes it harder for the invisibleness, which is a factor I already talked about. Plus, in the daytime there might be other people around who would hear it happen and might come to help. So nighttime is the best. In the night time, it can be like they were stumbling around like an idiot in the dark and so that is why it happened.

Plus, safety for others in and around the place is critical. You do not want any of your True Friends to be adversely impacted. Make sure they are safe in bed and asleep so that they will not experience it themselves. Remember, you’re doing this FOR them, not TO them.

Last, let me talk to little bit about your stealth and tradecraft. If they see you, it might be a warning. So surprise is an important factor. But, if they see you just after it happens, that might be okay because then they will understand in those last final seconds that they should’ve been nice. Of course, gloves are an important utility to have with you because of fingerprints. I am lucky because I don’t have any on my fingers, but I still sometimes wear a nice black pair for effect. They match my ninja suit.

Proper cleanupis also critical. Afterwards, remove it and any scratch marks that it might have left on the banister. Always leave the workplace the way you found it.

Well, I hope that none of my True Friends ever have to use this strategy, but if you do, you can do so knowing that you have had guidance and clear instruction from one who knows. Plus, remember that my professional services can always be engaged, should you have need of them.

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Submitted for The Daily Create, tdc1005“That @jimgroom and @phb256 are running “Wire106″, all about TV drama “The Wire”. They love that show. Bless ‘em.

Well, this started out as The Daily Create TDC916two-limerick Physics lesson, but there was a little more to tell to provide the proper context, so I wrote down a little bit more limericks to say a bit more of the story. Now it has six instead of just two. But not all about Physics. Plus, I made that animated GIF up there called “Dreams of Stairs and True Friends.”

Their once was a dolly named Tina, With a glowing and Friendly patina. With her eyes wet and misty, She was brought home by Christie, Who became the first True Friend of Tina.

Mom and Christie came home from the store. From the car to their house’s front door. But with some trepidation, and a queasy sensation, Trouble met them there on the first floor.

Now at this point we’ll be shifting the focus, With some poetic hocusy-pocus, From omniscient thee, To the first person me, We’ll continue with I as the locus.

That Erich, he was a bad papa, With his yelling’ and shoutin’ improppa. He cut me and squished me, Tried to burn me and ditch me. Despite all our pleas, he don’t stoppa.

With my Friend Christie cryin’ and ballin’, In the late night that Erich came callin’. But he tumbled and tripped, Summersaulted and flipped. Them stairs stopped him dead with that fallin’.

So my True Friend grew up to be strong. After that, me, I moved right along. With spy missions and acting, Ninja skills and some packing*, My list of True Friends now is long.

Well, The Daily Create TDC915 for today said to make a picture to cheer up the Lonely People because today is “Cheer-Up-the-Lonely Day”.

I looked at the website and it said muffins and sunflowers and also backyard warmth. I also figured that something important was missing, and so I added in a part about True Friends! (Duh!)

Up above is the outside of the card that I made. Down under these words is the inside of the card that I made. You can see that I have all three of the ingredients that were on the website are there in pictures, plus me for True Friends.

“Cheer-Up-the-Lonely Day” card (inside) by @iamTalkyTina

It was fun and a nice thing for me to do for the Lonely People on this day of theirs.

Plus, if you want to know how I got the music out of the YouTube, here is what I did.
1) I downloaded the video from YouTube using my handy MacX YouTube Downloader.
2) I opened the video using Quicktime and exported (audio only) into an .m4a
3) I opened the m4a of it using Audacity, and exported it as both an .mp3 and an .ogg.
4) Then, I used John’s click-on-a-GIF-to-hear-it trick.

So that Tom Woodward (@twoodwar, on Twitter) has been about the most patient True-Friend-in-Waiting that I could have. It was even longer for him to wait than @VivienRolfe had to wait, and Tom did his waiting without all that David@dkernohan nagging. But David was right to remind me as much as he did, because I wasn’t being a True Friend fast enough to Vivien, and I wasn’t being a True Friend to Tom even slower than that.

Plus, just last night Tom’s friend Gardner Campbell (@GardnerCampbell, on Twitter) said “I aspire to [F]riendship”, which said to me in a #thoughvector that it was time for me to get out my badge maker thing and then check my web form and see if I was even more behind with my True Friend badges than before. So I will do that next.

But first, I was making Tom’s badge. I know that his picture of the dead guy is not really a picture of him because I met him at the OpenVA thing and he doesn’t look like the dead guy. Plus, the dead guy is dead and Tom is not dead. And I also know that the dead guy wasn’t dead when he had his picture taken, but he was close to going there (but not from stairs, although I think he had to climb stairs one last time first but then didn’t take them back down, not even falling), but then after he had his picture taken, then he was dead.

So back in the olden times when they were dead then they would put pennies on their eyes for Charon to take them across the river Styx (not the band), and also to hold their eyes closed because they didn’t use sewing like today to stop them from popping open again. Plus, the pennies were bigger then.

So I made an animated GIF of Tom’s dead guy picture with big pennies on his eyes for Tom’s badge. Here it is!

Tom, thank you for waiting so patiently. Your badge is now added to the True Friends Index where it should have gone a long time ago.

Also, after I was done, I was thinking that with the pennies and curly hair and his head tipped back, the dead guy with penny face kind of looks like Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove, just in case you didn’t understand the title of the post.